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Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,

Here’s a quick test flight just to check I’ve not broken anything; more details on Vimeo.

It all started with the props: I’d broken 6 of the CF ones in the last week or two (costing £110 to replace) and on hunting for cheaper alternatives*, I found the white beechwood T-motor props. They are half the price, stronger, and less likely to split on impact – the CF ones are actually a sandwich with a middle layer of what looks like wood fibre and any lateral contact with the ground and the sandwich splits in three.

The new props’ span is an inch shorter but with slightly higher pitch; after an initial test flight, it was clear they were more powerful as a result. They also look nicer, and that’s what triggered the rest of the makeover.

I’ve been looking for a chapeau to cover her beret PCB for ages (the PCB doesn’t conform to the standard HAT definition, hence beret), and over time I’ve built up a collection of yellow and orange plastic salad bowls as a result, but none quite fitted right. But with the new white colour scheme, I found one that fitted nigh on perfectly, just a little dremel trimming required.

Finally, the feet: these are rubber lacrosse balls. They are heavier and stronger than the previous yellow dodgeball foam feet that Hermione forever punched holes through on landing. The increased prop power more than copes with the extra foot weight.

I think the new look added nearly a kilo in total, and measuring her on the scales, she now weighs 4.6kg, so it’s amazing she takes off at all!

*The problem with most more-affordable props is they don’t fit upside-down on the ground facing motors in Hermione’s X8 format frame.